1082
HONGKONG
POPULATION, GARRISON, AND DEFENCES
A census taken in May, 1911, showed the total population of the Colony to be 456,739, consisting of 12,075 non-Chinese and 444,664 Chinese. Of this number of Chinese 383,716 constituted the land population. The boat population numbered 60,948 (of whom 31,893 were in Victoria harbour). In the City of Victoria there were 7,825 non- Chinese and 216,022 Chinese. The Peak population was returned as 723 non-Chinese and 1,749 Chinese. Exclusive of the Army and Navy the white population of the Colony was 6,035. Compared with the returns made in 1906 a large increase in the population is shown, but it should be added that the census of 1911 was taken at a time when the population was temporarily inflated by an influx of probably 50,000 refugees from the mainland in consequence of political disturbances at Canton.
The average strength of the army stationed in the Colony is 4,500 (half being white troops) and of the Navy 2,500.
The Garrison consists of three companies Royal Garrison Artillery, one company Royal Engineers, one battalion of Infantry, Army Service Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, four Indian infantry battalions--two in North China and two at Hongkong ; four companies native artillery and one local company native engineers. There is also a Volunteer Corps consisting of one troop of Scouts, two companies of Garrison Artillery, with three Machine Gun Sections, and one Company of Engineers. On the initiative of H. E Sir Matthew Nathan, a Volunteer Reserve Association was formed in 1994 composed of British residents over the age of 35, and is a recognised part of the defence forces of the Colony.
The approaches to the harbour are strongly fortified, the batteries consisting of well-constructed earthworks. The western entrance is protected by three batteries on Stonecutters' Island and two forts on Belcher and Fly Points, from which a tremendous converging fire could be maintained, completely commanding the Sulphur Channel. Pine Wood battery, on the hill above and west of Richmond Terrace, has a wide range of fire. The Ly-ee-mùn Pass is defended by two forts on the Hongkong side and another on Devil's Peak on the mainland, and if vessels survived that fire they would then have to face the batteries at North Point and Hunghom which completely commin: the eastern entrance. Another battery on the bluff at Tsim-tsa Tsui, Kowloon, commands the whole of the centre of the harbour. The batteries are armed with the latest breech-loading ordnance, The Colony of Hongkong pays a military contribution fixed at 20 per cent. of the revenue.
In addition to the fortifications the Colony possesses a small squadron for harbour defence. This consists of the obsolete turret ironclad Winern, 2,750 tons, now dismantled and being used as a distilling ship, three submarines and six torpedo boats.
The crews of these vessels are borne in the receiving ship Tamar, which is also the headquarters of the Commodore and his staff. The Naval Yard consists of a large dock, an extensive range of workshops and offices east of the Artillery Barracks, and the Naval Authorities have another large establishment on the Kowloon side near to Yaumati.
CLIMATE
As intimated in earlier paragraphs, Hongkong formerly enjoyed a most unenviable notoriety for unhealthiness, and in years past the troops garrisoned here suffered grievously from malarial fevers. A great deal of the sickness in the early days of the Colony was believed to have been caused by excavating and otherwise disturbing the disintegrated granite of which the soil of the island mainly consists, and which appears to throw off malarious exhalations when upturned. At the
At the present time, however, the Colony is one of the healthiest spots in the world in the same latitude. The influence of the young pine forests created by the Afforestation Department and the training of uullahs on the slopes have no doubt been beneficial in checking malaria, and the attention latterly bestowed on sanitation has not been without its due effect. The general death rate per 1,000 in 1911 was 13.38 for the non- Chinese community only (including the Army and Navy) as compared with 10.04 in 1910. Among the Chinese community the death rate was 21.13 per 1,000 compared with 22.30 in 1910.
The following table shows fifteen years' means of the annual and monthly values of the principal meteorological elements:
Digitized by
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